Best 40 Year Mortgage

At a certain age, a 20 year mortgage sounds like a good idea and at another age, the magic number might be 5 years. But the big question is, “is a 40 year mortgage a good idea?” Well, here are some pros and cons. And never mind calculating in your own age and thinking, oh in 40 years, I’ll be 75, 80, 102 or whatever. That is not the point. The point is that your mortgage is spread out even finer and the end result is that you get a much lower monthly payment. Sure over time you do pay more but because each month’s mortgage payment is lower, you have more disposable income. This can save you a lot of money over time as well because you have the cash on hand to keep your bills paid on time and your credit card debt low.

It’s all about timing. In the early years of your 40 year mortgage you might be raising children, starting up a business, getting out of the debt trap. This is when you need the flexibility of cash on hand. You won’t be building huge equity but chances are you won’t need it as much as a person with a higher mortgage payment. After all you will have a lower monthly debt load. I would recommend looking into jumbo mortgage loan rates for that purpose.

It is worth emphasizing that not only are you paying more over the long run, any 40 year mortgages will likely have a slightly higher interest rate. However, once the hard part of being a young parent or starting out in the business world is over, you do have the option of refinancing. If you are a patient person, you might even find there are incentives to refinance. If you are a new borrower it is not very likely for your current mortgage refinance rate to change anytime soon. Then again, the mortgage business is ever-changing and in the future it is more than possible that lenders will be courting those with 40 year mortgages to refinance.

You may not think you will want to refinance 40 year mortgage deals at the moment but you might. Here is one example. Think about having a 40 year fixed mortgage at a rate you think is great now but down the road, the rate might be significantly lower.  A 40 year mortgage at a superior rate is one thing. Having the rate drop while you are stuck in a long time commitment to a high rate is something else entirely. Make a careful list of the pros and cons that apply to your situation and the decision will become clear to you.

With the recent problems in the housing market, due to an increasingly ailing economy, many homeowners are struggling to afford their mortgage payments. This has prompted some homeowners to consider a 40 year mortgage. A normal mortgage amortization period would be anywhere from 15 to 30 years. With a 40 year mortgage however, the homeowner usually opts to extend their current fixed-rate mortgage to 40 years, in order to lower the monthly cost of their mortgage payment. Many home buyers also choose to start their mortgage at a 40 year amortization rate so that they can afford the house that they want to buy. If you are considering a 40 year mortgage for your current or potential property, then it would be wise to learn as much as you can about 40 year mortgages before you make such a crucial financial decision.


The proponents of 40 year mortgages would point out the obvious advantage of opting for a 40 year mortgage on your property, and that is the fact that you will have lower monthly mortgage payments. If you are having trouble figuring out exactly how much you stand to save by extending your mortgage period to 40 years, then you can use a tool known as the 40 year mortgage calculator. This tool will allow you to calculate the difference that a 40 year mortgage would make for you, so that you can gage the advantages of such a decision. Sometimes choosing a 40 year mortgage can allow you to buy a house that you could not afford with a shorter mortgage period.


The downside however is that a 40 year mortgage carries higher interest rates than other shorter amortization periods. In fact the interest rate can be as high as .400 percentage points higher than a 30 year mortgage on the same loan amount! These interest rates can add up to a very hefty sum over the years, and you could end up paying more in interest than the value of the mortgage loan itself! So the difference between the interest rates of a 30 and 40 year mortgage can be quite staggering depending on the conditions of the loan. You will also have to deal with the fact that the equity on your home will build at a snail’s pace in comparison to the equity of a home with a 30 year mortgage. There are several alternatives that would allow you to speed up the equity building process, but they also have their downfalls as well.

Overall, it comes down to whether or not you would like to save money in the long term, or in the short term. If you would like to move into a house that you simply cannot afford at the moment with a 30 year mortgage, then by all means opt for the 40 year mortgage. However, if you are thinking about what will happen in twenty years as a result of the 40 year mortgage, then it may be wise to think long and hard about the elevated interest rates and the slow equity build up. Ultimately the decision will depend upon your discernment as a home buyer/owner , and your ability to be responsible financially. Hopefully this information has helped someone gage the pros and cons of a 40 year mortgage, so that they can make a well thought out decision that will affect their future positively.